http://mmajunkie.comLAS VEGAS – Out of action for coming up on two years, Matt Serra gets his fair share of ribbing about his weight.

Serra (11-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC), a former UFC welterweight champion, has not fought since a UFC 119 loss to Chris Lytle. But it’s not like he considers himself retired – he sees scenarios in which he’d get back in the octagon.

Serra, a native New Yorker who runs a pair of gyms on Long Island, said he’d love to fight again if the UFC ever was able to hold an event in New York. And oh, by the way? He’d love one more shot at his old nemesis Matt Hughes.

“If they did a thing in New York, I think that would be a big motivator,” Serra on Friday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas. “I could wake up tomorrow and feel totally different. We play it by ear.”

But another fight against UFC Hall of Famer Hughes, who beat him in a close “Fight of the Night” unanimous decision at UFC 98 in May 2009? That bit of playing things by ear might become a little easier.

“I don’t want to bring up the whole Matt Hughes thing again, but to be honest I’m not a big fan of that guy,” Serra said. “Who does like that guy? I’d take that fight in a heartbeat. But I don’t think he’s going to be around any longer. I don’t know what’s going on with that guy.”

Hughes (45-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) hasn’t been on the sidelines as long as Serra, but he hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135 this past September – his second straight first-round knockout setback.

The beef between Serra and Hughes first took off on Season 6 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” on which the pair coached opposite each other. Though their season-ending coaches fight was delayed until UFC 98, the disdain between the two, while not at a fever pitch, hasn’t subsided.

But until then, Serra is keeping busy being a family man, coaching and teaching. That’s why it would take a little something bigger to get him back into full-on train-for-a-fight mode.

“I talked about this with B.J. Penn before, who’s another old-school guy like me,” Serra said. “He’s been around a while and he’s got a lot of big fights, he’s got two little girls like myself. And you just don’t want to take a fight to take a fight. You want to be passionate about it. I’ve been in fights with B.J. Penn to (Georges St-Pierre) to Matt Hughes, so if I’m going to fight just some little tough kid, it’s awesome, but it’s probably going to be more awesome to him. So it’s not that I’m against it. Sometimes I’m in the grind of running my schools and dealing with my kids, I get that itch again.

“But if they did a thing in New York, I think that would be a big motivator.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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